TiVo partner RCN posted a fairly meaty state of the union on DSLReports today. Not only does the cable TV provider cover plans to possibly support the upcoming TiVo Stream and IP-STB along with the release of a refreshed VOD experience featuring a sleeker HDUI look and video previews, RCN talks apps:
We have pushed VERY hard on TiVo to deliver more applications that run on the TiVo Set-Top. Since launch we understand that we have lost a number of applications (FrameChannel, Yahoo Weather, Yahoo Traffic , One True Media , etc..) While we really have only launched Pandora which is a awesome app, we want to see more.. We have applied HEAVY pressure and received firm commitments from TiVo that they are going to be deploying more apps. I can’t give details but they tie into :
- Social Networking
- Music
- Games
I’ve seen some of the apps, and I’m excited.
One need only look across the pond to Virgin Media, who has presumably deployed more UK TiVo DVRs (1m) than there are US Premieres, to get a sense of what’s coming — Twitter, Facebook, and Spotify are already in rotation. And, who knows, now that Netflix and Starz have parted ways perhaps RCN might be able to entertain access for their cable customers.
Regarding games, well I’m not quite sold on casual gaming… whatever my TiVo can do, my iPhone or Xbox can do better. Not to mention it’s not clear that an app platform like Roku has managed to find much success by dabbling in this genre. So, as a retail TiVo customer, I’d prefer they focus more resources on speeding up the apps they have, including Hulu Plus and YouTube.
(Thanks, Sam!)